Various types of reversible or reconfigurable vehicle seats have been used to accommodate different seating directions and positions for occupants in vehicles. By way of example, some vehicle seats allow for repositioning thereof between at least a forward-facing position, wherein the occupant faces the front of the vehicle, and a rearward-facing position, wherein the occupant faces toward the rear of the vehicle. A number of different seat configurations can provide for such repositioning, including those in which the seat rotates on a horizontal plane, about a vertical axis, among positions.
For seats in particular locations of certain vehicles, horizontal rotation-based reconfiguration may not be possible. For example, front seats in a car (such as the driver's seat in a fully-autonomous vehicle, for example) as well as rear or middle row seats in larger vehicles may be positioned too close to one another or adjacent vehicle components to rotate between positions. Accordingly, some reversible seats have been developed in which the seatback is moveable over and independently of the seat cushion. Such arrangements provide a forward-facing position with the seatback toward the rear of the cushion and a rearward-facing position with the seatback toward the front of the cushion. In these arrangements, the seatback has two opposite seating surfaces for respective use in the forward- or rearward-facing configurations. Because the components of the seat move separately from each other during reconfiguration and not as a single unit (as may be the case in horizontally-rotating reversible seats), seatbelt components may also need to be repositioned between seat configurations.
Accordingly, there is a need for a restraint system and a vehicle seat incorporating such a restraint system that provides for reconfiguration of components thereof in response to vehicle seat repositioning.